Guilty plea for man in FBI-aided bomb plot

A man with a history of mental illness has pleaded guilty in connection with a thwarted plot to start a civil war by detonating what he thought was a car bomb outside an Oakland bank - but was actually a phony weapon provided by an undercover agent.

Matthew Aaron Llaneza, 29, of San Jose entered a guilty plea Thursday to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against property used in interstate commerce. He is being held without bail pending his sentencing Feb. 27 before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland.

Llaneza was arrested near the Bank of America branch at 303 Hegenberger Road at 12:30 a.m. Feb. 8 after pressing a cell phone trigger device that he thought would set off explosives inside a sport utility vehicle and bring down the four-story building, authorities said.

In fact, an undercover FBI agent posing as a go-between with the Taliban in Afghanistan had been meeting with Llaneza since Nov. 30 and accompanied him to the bank, FBI Special Agent Christopher Monika wrote in a sworn affidavit. The FBI had built the phony bomb, authorities said.

The FBI said Llaneza told the supposed Taliban representative that he wanted the bank bombing to be blamed on anti-U.S. government militias. Llaneza said he supported the Taliban and believed in violent jihad, the agent said, and hoped the bombing would prompt a government crackdown, a right-wing response and, ultimately, civil war.

Court documents and lawyers in a 2011 criminal case against Llaneza in San Jose described him as delusional and suicidal, with a record of receiving mental health treatment. He told police in that case that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The bombing case renewed criticism the FBI has faced in recent years over investigations in which agents take an active role in planning and facilitating an attack with a suspect. Critics say that, in many cases, the targets of such probes would not have sought to commit violence if left alone.